Following the Principality of Zeon's invasion and subsequent occupation of much of Earth during the One Year War, the Zeon military finds that their revolutionary mobile suits that prove so effective in space combat are essentially slow-moving targets on Earth. A program is initiated to develop an atmospheric flight-capable mobile suit, and four MS-07B Goufs are modified into the experimental MS-07H Gouf Flight Test Type. Mounting aerodynamic control surfaces on its backpack and a pair of powerful thermonuclear jet engines on each leg, the Gouf Flight Test Types are assigned to Zeon's captured California Base and later transferred to an air force base in Arizona for extensive test flights. This initial design proves flawed, however, and over the course of its test flight schedule, the Gouf Flight Test Types are refurbished and redesigned along the way, the last incarnation being the MS-07H-4 model before the program is finally scrapped. After the war, some units come into service with the Earth Federation Forces and remain in use as late as UC 0087.